Kurdish Lawmaker: Erdogan Crackdown Killed 458 Civilians in Eastern Turkey

Kurdish Lawmaker: Erdogan Crackdown Killed 458 Civilians in Eastern Turkey

 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ordered a wave of repression in Kurdistan that has killed more than 450 people, including eight-month-old children, Turkish parliament member and Kurdish activist Osman Baydemir told reporters, Sputnik reported.

"[The] 458 civilians lost their lives in the course of operations carried out by the government and soldiers over the past eight months," Baydemir told reporters on Wednesday. "All schools in curfew areas are effectively closed."

Even health clinics throughout the area of the crackdown had been requisitioned by the Turkish army as military bases, Baydemir pointed out.

The national parliament in Ankara was firmly under Erdogan’s thumb and was incapable of opposing or ending the repression, he added.

"Parliament is inactive. It is not operating in Turkey," he said.

"We expect the government of the United States to declare that Turkey is heading for a civil war," Baydemir stated on Wednesday. "It would be very helpful if an appeal should be made to both sides to return to the negotiating table."

However, Baydemir pointed out that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has dismissed all peaceful Kurdish politicians and parties as well as critics of his rule as terrorists.

"The current war has been declared on civilians by the [Turkish] state… Babies that are three months old have been killed. We will be asking for an accounting of all these civilian deaths," Baydemir said.

Baydemir is a former mayor of Diyarbakir, which he described as the largest city in the Kurdish majority regions of Turkey.